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Aranean Colonies
Cyorian Web Matriarch: Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter Notables: Enthusiastic Seeker of Novelty (Zorian's teacher) Scout: Watchful Eyes that Miss Nothing of Importance Notes: The first web that Zorian encounters, it is the sole web located directly below Cyoria, a highly coveted location among the aranea. It is the fifth such web to live where they do, though it is unknown whether or not they had an active hand in removing the previous web. Illustrious Gem Collectors Matriarch: She who Eats Fire and Sees Gold Notes: Introduces Zorian to many of the other webs, claiming they don't have the desire/time/resources to train him themselves. Sword Divers Notes: Located under Korsa, have a habit of attacking weak mages who wander in their territory. They attacked Zorian, who had located them on his own seeking psychic teachers after the Cyorian web, breaking through his mental defences and nearly crippling his mind, leaving him in a coma into the next restart. Rose Labyrinth Dwellers Notes: This web is one of few that exist entirely within the dungeon and never venture to the surface for any reason. Their domain is very maze-like, befitting their name. They would only agree to teach Zorian if he would commit fully to becoming a member of the web by living, eating and sleeping with them and not leaving. Zorian could not agree to this. Yellow Cavern Guardians Notes: The Yellow Cavern that gives them their name is a much envied underground fertile location, which allows them to grow their own food (or so it is implied). At the time of the story, the Yellow Cavern Guardians are being threatened by a giant monster frog which likes to snack on aranea and which has taken up residence in their home. Filigree Sages Notes: Known among the aranea for their specialization in the aranean version of spell formula. Zorian's offer of assistance as a mage of the Ikosian tradition with experience in human spell formula seemed to excite them, but Zorian was hard-pressed to even comprehend their spell formula, even though their spell formula seemed to have been derived from Ikosian spell formula. River Navigators Notes: Although they are not great teachers, the River Navigators, who learned how to create their own boats and navigate the subterranean webs, are well connected to many of the other webs. Zorian's second mind magic teacher was Mind Like Fire, the teacher for the young aranea of the River Navigators web. Luminous Advocates Notes: Because their web is located in a rather barren and uninteresting location, the Luminous Advocates developed their mind magic skills heavily, in order to trade with other webs for necessities. They are now famous for the high level to which they have developed their mind magic abilities. Ghost Serpent Acolytes Notes: Marked shady by the matriarch of Illustrious Gem Collectors. They abandoned the traditional(?) aranean faith in the Great Web for the Ghost Serpent that gives them their names. The Ghost Serpent is a spirit entity that seems to think very poorly of Zorian and Zach. Silent Doorway Adepts Notes: Marked shady by the matriarch of the Illustrious Gem Collectors. They are known among the aranea for their ability to get into and out of heavily guarded/warded areas. They seem to specialize in theft/smuggling, rather than assassination. Their settlement is built around one of the Bakora Gates, which they claim mystifies them as much as it does humans. Highly interested in crystallized mana, but not so desperate that they would be willing to cut ties with other aranea for a few pieces. Talisman Bearers Notes: Marked shady by the matriarch of the Illustrious Gem Collectors. The Talisman bearers are famous for carrying Talismans on them that act the same as spell rods for humans. Perfect Phantasm Crafters A web famed for their abilities with mental illusions the Perfect Phantasm Crafters specialize in two areas - the ability to mind control beings in the dungeon and the so-called self-illusions. The self-illusions involve personal mental modification allowing illusions such as reminders and alters to appear in a users field of vision and also allow users to block out or selectively control unwanted sensory inputs. Self Illusions are considered the safest of the mental modification disciplines however the field itself is only for Mind Magic Experts. Challengers of the Unspeakable (a.k.a. The Demon Skin Web or the Howling Ones) Notes: The last (known) remaining "old" webs or non-structured magic using webs, the Challengers of the Unspeakable watched their neighbors be wiped out or consumed from within by the "new" webs. The new webs used magic developed from the original Cyorian web which eventually spread out and spawned new webs that took over all other webs on the continent.